2026-05-22 カリフォルニア大学バークレー校（UCB）
A sequence of high-resolution images showing a cell dividing into three daughter cells, a rare event captured by the MOSAIC microscope in 5D. The images come from the first 3D videos of such an event, which was captured in cancerous pig epithelial cells. Advanced Bioimaging Center/UC Berkeley
＜関連情報＞
- https://news.berkeley.edu/2026/05/22/hi-res-microscopes-give-biologists-petabytes-of-data-scientists-are-creating-an-ai-assistant-to-make-sense-of-it/
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41592-026-03066-1
分子から生物まで、生体内イメージングのためのマルチモーダル適応型光学顕微鏡 A multimodal adaptive optical microscope for in vivo imaging from molecules to organisms
Tian-Ming Fu,Gaoxiang Liu,Daniel E. Milkie,Xiongtao Ruan,Frederik Görlitz,Yu Shi,Valentina Ferro,Nikita S. Divekar,Wei Wang,Harrison M. York,Velat Kilic,Matthew Mueller,Yajie Liang,Timothy A. Daugird,Maria Jose Gacha-Garay,Kathryn A. Larkin,Rebecca C. Adikes,Nathanael Harrison,Cyna Shirazinejad,Samara Williams,Jamison L. Nourse,Shu-Hsien Sheu,Liang Gao,Tongchao Li,… Srigokul Upadhyayula
Nature Methods Published:22 May 2026
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-026-03066-1
Abstract
Understanding biological systems requires observing features and processes across vast spatial and temporal scales, spanning nanometers to centimeters and milliseconds to days, often using multiple imaging modalities within complex native microenvironments. Yet, achieving this comprehensive view is challenging because microscopes optimized for specific tasks typically lack versatility due to inherent optical and sample handling tradeoffs, and frequently suffer performance degradation from sample-induced optical aberrations in multicellular contexts. Here, we present Multimodal Optical Scope with Adaptive Imaging Correction (MOSAIC), a reconfigurable microscope that integrates multiple advanced imaging techniques including light-sheet, label-free, super-resolution and multiphoton, all equipped with adaptive optics. MOSAIC enables noninvasive imaging of subcellular dynamics in both cultured cells and live multicellular organisms, nanoscale mapping of molecular architectures across millimeter-scale expanded tissues and structural/functional neural imaging within live mice. MOSAIC facilitates correlative studies across biological scales within the same specimen, providing an integrated platform for broad biological investigation.
分子コントラストとナノスケール解像度による皮質柱および全脳イメージング Cortical column and whole-brain imaging with molecular contrast and nanoscale resolution
Ruixuan Gao, Shoh M. Asano, Srigokul Upadhyayula, Igor Pisarev, […] , and Eric Betzig
Science Published:18 Jan 2019
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aau8302
Structured Abstract
INTRODUCTION
Neural circuits across the brain are composed of structures spanning seven orders of magnitude in size that are assembled from thousands of distinct protein types. Electron microscopy has imaged densely labeled brain tissue at nanometer-level resolution over near-millimeter-level dimensions but lacks the contrast to distinguish specific proteins and the speed to readily image multiple specimens. Conversely, confocal fluorescence microscopy offers molecular contrast but has insufficient resolution for dense neural tracing or the precise localization of specific molecular players within submicrometer-sized structures. Last, superresolution fluorescence microscopy bleaches fluorophores too quickly for large-volume imaging and also lacks the speed for effective brain-wide or cortex-wide imaging of multiple specimens.
RATIONALE
We combined two imaging technologies to address these issues. Expansion microscopy (ExM) creates an expanded, optically clear phantom of a fluorescent specimen that retains its original relative distribution of fluorescent tags. Lattice light-sheet microscopy (LLSM) then images this phantom in three dimensions with minimal photobleaching at speeds sufficient to image the entire Drosophila brain or across the width of the mouse cortex in ∼2 to 3 days, with multiple markers at an effective resolution of ∼60 by 60 by 90 nm for 4× expansion.
RESULTS
We applied expansion/LLSM (ExLLSM) to study a variety of subcellular structures in the brain. In the mouse cortex, we quantified the volume of organelles, measured morphological parameters of ~1500 dendritic spines, determined the variation of distances between pre- and postsynaptic proteins, observed large differences in postsynaptic expression at adjacent pyramidal neurons, and studied both the azimuthal asymmetry and layer-specific longitudinal variation of axonal myelination. In Drosophila, we traced the axonal branches of olfactory projection neurons across one hemisphere and studied the stereotypy of their boutons at the calyx and lateral horn across five animals. We also imaged all dopaminergic neurons (DANs) across the brain of another specimen, visualized DAN morphologies in all major brain regions, and traced a cluster of eight DANs to their termini to determine their respective cell types. In the same specimen, we also determined the number of presynaptic active zones (AZs) across the brain and the local density of all AZs and DAN-associated AZs in each brain region.
CONCLUSION
With its high speed, nanometric resolution, and ability to leverage genetically targeted, cell type–specific, and protein-specific fluorescence labeling, ExLLSM fills a valuable niche between the high throughput of conventional optical pipelines of neural anatomy and the ultrahigh resolution of corresponding EM pipelines. Assuming the development of fully validated, brain-wide isotropic expansion at 10× or beyond and sufficiently dense labeling, ExLLSM may enable brainwide comparisons of even densely innervated neural circuits across multiple specimens with protein-specific contrast at 25-nm resolution or better.
Nanoscale brain-wide optical imaging.
ExLLSM images neural structures with molecular contrast over millimeter-scale volumes, including (clockwise from top right) mouse pyramidal neurons and their processes; organelle morphologies in somata; dendritic spines and synaptic proteins across the cortex; stereotypy of projection neuron boutons in Drosophila; projection neurons traced to the central complex; and (center) dopaminergic neurons across the brain, including the ellipsoid body (circular inset).
Abstract
Optical and electron microscopy have made tremendous inroads toward understanding the complexity of the brain. However, optical microscopy offers insufficient resolution to reveal subcellular details, and electron microscopy lacks the throughput and molecular contrast to visualize specific molecular constituents over millimeter-scale or larger dimensions. We combined expansion microscopy and lattice light-sheet microscopy to image the nanoscale spatial relationships between proteins across the thickness of the mouse cortex or the entire Drosophila brain. These included synaptic proteins at dendritic spines, myelination along axons, and presynaptic densities at dopaminergic neurons in every fly brain region. The technology should enable statistically rich, large-scale studies of neural development, sexual dimorphism, degree of stereotypy, and structural correlations to behavior or neural activity, all with molecular contrast.
細胞を本来の状態で観察する：多細胞生物における細胞内動態のイメージング Observing the cell in its native state: Imaging subcellular dynamics in multicellular organisms
Tsung-Li Liu, Srigokul Upadhyayula, Daniel E. Milkie, Ved Singh, […] , and Eric Betzig
Science Published:20 Apr 2018
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaq1392
Structured Abstract
INTRODUCTION
Organisms live by means of the complex, dynamic, three-dimensional (3D) interplay between millions of components, from the molecular to the multicellular. Visualizing this complexity in its native form requires imaging at high resolution in space and time anywhere within the organism itself, because only there are all the environmental factors that regulate its physiology present. However, the optical heterogeneity of multicellular systems leads to aberrations that quickly compromise resolution, signal, and contrast with increasing imaging depth. Furthermore, even in the absence of aberrations, high resolution and fast imaging are usually accompanied by intense illumination, which can perturb delicate subcellular processes or even introduce permanent phototoxic effects.
RATIONALE
We combined two imaging technologies to address these problems. The first, lattice light-sheet microscopy (LLSM), rapidly and repeatedly sweeps an ultrathin sheet of light through a volume of interest while acquiring a series of images, building a high-resolution 3D movie of the dynamics within. The confinement of the illumination to a thin plane insures that regions outside the volume remain unexposed, while the parallel collection of fluorescence from across the plane permits low, less perturbative intensities to be used. The second technology, adaptive optics (AO), measures sample-induced distortions to the image of a fluorescent “guide star” created within the volume—distortions that also affect the acquired light-sheet images—and compensates for these by changing the shape of a mirror to create an equal but opposite distortion.
RESULTS
We applied AO-LLSM to study a variety of 3D subcellular processes in vivo over a broad range of length scales, from the nanoscale diffusion of clathrin-coated pits (CCPs) to axon-guided motility across 200 μm of the developing zebrafish spinal cord. Clear delineation of cell membranes allowed us to computationally isolate and individually study any desired cell within the crowded multicellular environment of the intact organism. By doing so, we could compare specific processes across different cell types, such as rates of CCP internalization in muscle fibers and brain cells, organelle remodeling during cell division in the developing brain and eye, and motility mechanisms used by immune cells and metastatic breast cancer cells. Although most examples were taken from zebrafish embryos, we also demonstrated AO-LLSM in a human stem cell–derived organoid, a Caenorhabditis elegans nematode, and Arabidopsis thaliana leaves.
CONCLUSION
AO-LLSM takes high-resolution live-cell imaging of subcellular processes from the confines of the coverslip to the more physiologically relevant 3D environment within whole transparent organisms. This creates new opportunities to study the phenotypic diversity of intracellular dynamics, extracellular communication, and collective cell behavior across different cell types, organisms, and developmental stages.
High-resolution in vivo cell biology.
AO-LLSM permits the study of 3D subcellular processes in their native multicellular environments at high spatiotemporal resolution, including (clockwise from upper left) growth of spinal cord axons; cancer cell metastasis; collective cellular motion; endocytosis; microtubule displacements; immune cell migration; and (center) organelle dynamics.
Abstract
True physiological imaging of subcellular dynamics requires studying cells within their parent organisms, where all the environmental cues that drive gene expression, and hence the phenotypes that we actually observe, are present. A complete understanding also requires volumetric imaging of the cell and its surroundings at high spatiotemporal resolution, without inducing undue stress on either. We combined lattice light-sheet microscopy with adaptive optics to achieve, across large multicellular volumes, noninvasive aberration-free imaging of subcellular processes, including endocytosis, organelle remodeling during mitosis, and the migration of axons, immune cells, and metastatic cancer cells in vivo. The technology reveals the phenotypic diversity within cells across different organisms and developmental stages and may offer insights into how cells harness their intrinsic variability to adapt to different physiological environments.
